


Growth

by GrimLegate



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Akechi is still a detective, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - No Phantom Thieves, Cunnilingus, Developing Relationship, Emotional Hurt, F/M, Grinding, Hurt/Comfort, Making Out, Touch-Averse, Touch-Starved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2020-07-29 05:51:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20077207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrimLegate/pseuds/GrimLegate
Summary: The reader finds themselves in an uncomfortable situation, wondering if they are truly loved by the man who shies away from their touch.





	Growth

There was a part of you that always knew that something just wasn’t right.

It hadn’t been evident at first of course, it seldom ever is. You thought maybe it was just an adjustment period. That’s why when you had tried to link your fingers in his, he had jerked his hand away, giving you a polite smile as though that explained away the behavior. Okay, some people took time to get used to such things.

You had wondered, if maybe it had been an unfortunate subject of his upbringing. That maybe he hadn’t grown up with his parents wearing their hearts on their sleeves, and boldly proclaiming their love for one another with laughter and adoration. If that was the case, you couldn’t blame him after all. That wasn’t something that he could control, it would be something that he would have to unlearn – if he was willing at all, in the first place.

But, every action, every behavior had often ended up puzzling you. There were times that he was fine with the affection, even reciprocating on some level. Then, there were the times that he reacted almost with violent outbursts, never physical of course, but he would reel back as though he had been burned by the touch.

To say it was disheartening, would be an understatement.

You wanted to be understanding, of course. You figured every relationship had its ups and downs, and maybe this was an adjustment period that every couple went through. Nobody _liked_ to talk about the downsides of entrusting your love to another person, so maybe it was one of those things that had just been swept under the rug.

You worried your lip as these thoughts ran through your head, glancing to the glass of water in front of you. Focusing on the condensation rolling down the side, you wondered what the best course of action for your relationship might be. The latest in the string of confusing signals had been just a short while ago, when you had gone to hug your boyfriend. The day was warm and lazy, offering little for the two to do other than to seek shelter inside, and spend some quality time together. You had tried to hug him when you spotted him, crying out his name in jubilation and running up to him.

He had been so stiff, even when you had released him from the embrace, and no sooner had you done that had the guarded attitude been thrown up as he stepped away. Anyone on the street could be forgiven in thinking you had simply gotten the wrong person. And the way it had been overlooked, as he turned towards the café and motioned for you to follow with that same polite, if not strained, smile he always gave you.

Your downcast eyes perked up at the sign of movement, the subject of your thoughts slipping into the booth across from you.

“Ah, my apologies – you know how it is, when duty calls…” He kept his tone light, reaching for cup of coffee. His nose wrinkled the tiniest amount, the currant tint of his eyes glancing up to meet yours at the confusion. He coughed, his face flushing with the tiniest hint of embarrassment. “I, uh… this little hole in the wall coffee shop has utterly ruined my palate.” He murmured, and your thought pulled ever so slightly on your aching heart.

_That was what had drawn you to him._

In public, he had a reputation to uphold after all. He was unflappable, charming, and could smooth talk his way out of anything. He was the Detective Prince, to them. To you? He was just Goro Akechi. It was the person you had met in the library shortly before finals, flustered because he had seemed to misplace his reading glasses –

Which had been neatly perched atop his head.

The memory drew a smile to your face, and the other couldn’t help but notice the floaty attitude that seemed to have you in it’s grasp. The hand waving in front of your face made you jump, forcing out a small squawk which left him laughing, his head tilted to the side as he curiously gazed at you.

“Goro to Houston, is everything alright in there?” He teased, smirking at the flustered sight before him. You gave a quick nod, too quick in honesty, feeling the back of your head none-to-gently glance the back of the booth the two of you had found in a quiet corner. A sharp hiss escaped your lips, cradling your head while your date leaned forward in alarm. “Are you okay?” Akechi’s hand stretched out, reaching for you, while you tried to rub the pain from the area.

“Probably be sore… but I’m fine.”

“Ah… good.” His arm fell as quickly as he had put it up, and a part of you burned at something that, to anyone else, wouldn’t have seemed so important. When you had started dating, you though it would have been just like those cheesy romance series. Well, maybe not to the ‘T’, but the fantasy of holding hands while the two of you stared moon-eyed at one another had been a tempting one.

Your eyes went downcast once more, and Goro’s head tilted, wondering if you were hurting worse than you let on. The question was on his lips, about to breach the air, before you blurted out the question that had been burning in your chest for weeks at that point.

“Do you love me, Goro?”

There were no tears in your eyes, only the weariness from having sat on such a thought for what felt like ages. And there. There was the defensiveness that you had come to recognize in the other. His shoulders had stiffened up, and his eyes had narrowed, brow furrowed as he tried to fully comprehend what you had asked.

“What would have ever made you think that I don’t?”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

Your reply was sharp, maybe sharper than it had to be, but you were well aware that the other could dance around questions as much as he liked. He was a detective, after all. It was only made worse by the fact he had been properly studying as one for the few years he had been attending college. Your mood wasn’t improved by how quickly he had tried to deflect the question as well. It only made you sink into the seat, wishing that the thinning upholstery would split open and swallow you whole.

The composure that Akechi had lost was gone for all but a moment, until he had managed to steel himself, returning to the suave nature with which he tried to defuse all situations. He laid his arms on the table, laying one hand over the other as he looked at you. He tried to think what could bring this up, and how to keep himself composed while under your scrutiny. He could already feel the cold sweat gathering at his back, and he plastered a placating smile on his face.

“Of course, I do.”

“Then why don’t you say it? Why don’t you act like it?”

He flinched in his seat, and something in him, something self-preserving and tense, felt the need to lash out. He squared his shoulders, forcing himself to relax, even despite the fact he felt anything but.

“Most relationships in college aren’t shown to be serious – they don’t last. I wouldn’t expect for someone to be interested.” He said bluntly, even while the child in him, the person who craved attention and love and affirmation clawed against his chest, tearing his heart with each word he spoke. “Why would someone truly feel that way for me, unless they wanted something from me?”

You gaped, unable to comprehend what was going on. The hot sting of tears flooded behind your eyes, and you willed them back, somehow managing to find your voice, desperate to keep it steady despite everything.

“I do.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I _do_ love you.” You hissed out through the constriction of your throat around your words, desperate not to start the waterworks. “Maybe not from the time I met you, but somewhere along the line I decided I couldn’t deny my feelings. Maybe… maybe _I _was wrong for expecting someone to feel the same.” You had nearly turned to leave the booth, grabbing your things before the feeling of Akechi’s hand grabbing yours.

He clutched it like a lifeline, squeezing it as he looked up at you with an expression so desperate it made your heart cry.

“Please don’t leave, I love you – I-I… I never meant to make you feel that way.” He murmured, trying to coax you to sit back down. He looked so guilty, his eyes reflecting the pain you felt in your heart. “I just… I didn’t hope for someone to truly care. I know I’m renowned, and all, it wouldn’t be the first time someone wanted to court me for my reputation…” His words hung in the air, silence filling the booth surrounding them, even seeming to drown out the noise surrounding them.

No one seemed to notice the two college students in their own little corner of the world, and the moment that they were sharing.

By the time you had found your voice, Akechi’s confidant demeanor had melted into that of a man sentenced to the gallows. You glanced to your hands, pulling your hand away for but a moment, to then lace your fingers together. Your eyes locked with his, and a tear escaped as you squeezed his hand.

“I don’t care about that. You’re Goro Akechi to me. Not some great ‘Detective Prince’. And even if that were to change, I’d still be here.” Watching his expression was almost entertaining, seeming the realization dawn on his face, settling into a vulnerable tentativeness when he squeezed your hand in return. “I love you, Goro.”

“I love you, too.”

His hand never left yours, as the coffee date started anew, easing into conversations of your daily lives, and the ongoing fight against your classes. You shared easy laughter in the small slice of the world. Everything felt so new, and yet it was as though the two of you had done this again and again. There was a comfort to it all, and with every snort and stifled amusement the mood lifted and lifted.

Even the walk to your dorm after, his hand still remained entwined with your own. He had once thought that the idea of walking tethered to another would be inconvenient, a nuisance. But as you joyfully swung your arms together during the trek through town, he couldn’t think of a greater thing, than to have a constant reminder that you were by his side. You leaned into his side more easily, and he found himself craving the affection, now that he had allowed himself to have such things.

He wonders, how he could have at all thought that this extensive affection could be so horrible – especially with you kneeling atop his lap. The two of you aren’t sure where gentle caresses had turned into something more carnal, and the drone of the tv in the background was soon forgotten, along with whatever movie that they had been mostly ignoring in the meantime.

Your hands stroked his shoulders, trailing up to cup his face, pulling him in for another lip-lock. He was a horrible kisser, in retrospect. You had to cut him some slack though, after all, could you blame someone for not reading, if they didn’t know how?

His face had lit up a perfect shade of pink to make you giggle, when you teased him that you felt like you were ‘kissing a dead fish’. Maybe you had spurned his honor, because after that, suddenly he had come to life, making sure to follow your lead, if not taking the reigns entirely when you had started to play a more passive role. The heaviness of his hands upon your hips drew a gasp from your lips, the other not missing the opportunity to drag his teeth over your bottom lip.

“Not such a horrible kisser, now am I?” He groused, providing another sharp nip, this time targeting the pale skin of your collar. His hands squeezed and kneaded your hips, feeling the tips of his fingers graze under the concealed area of skin. There was little pretense regarded towards the shedding of your shirt. You left the other to his own devices, watching him fumble slightly with the clasp of your bra, until his clever fingers had undone them. Pulling it off, it was like watching Akechi unwrap a neat little gift you had given him.

At once, he began exploring, rubbing his thumbs over the rosy peaks of your nipples, watching them in fascination as they hardened under his ministrations. His mouth returned to the pale expanse of your neck, lavishing the skin in kisses and love bites, all the pull the sweet sounds of pleasure from your lips. Moving against one another was something you had to learn, weaving your arms around his while he was entranced by your chest. You worried the buttons of his shirt, until one by one, you managed to pop them free, pulling away from his mouth to catch a glimpse at the _other’s_ chest.

“Holy shit.”

He was _built._

Well, built maybe wasn’t right. He wasn’t like the models that everyone would fawn over in magazines. He was _toned_, lean and muscular in all the right spots. The blush that had been ever-present on his face since the beginning of this venture burned even hotter at your praise, and he couldn’t help the demure cough he squeaked out.

“I try to use the school gym…”

“_Try?!”_ While he was a little embarrassed at your outburst, he felt pride swell in his chest. He took great care in his appearance, and for someone to acknowledge the work that he had put into his body filled him with an immense amount of satisfaction. Especially the feeling of your wandering hands, squeezing and feeling every inch of his chest.

He pulled you back in for another kiss, and you eagerly rolled yourself up against him, drawing a gasp from him this time. You stared at him for a moment, the gears in your head turning slower with the buffer of arousal, but finally it clicked. Grinding down into his lap, you tore another stuttered moan from his lips, his hands squeezing your hips. The long, low growl of an animal tore past his lips, and the firm grip he had on you became near bruising, as he captured your lips roughly.

You eagerly met the tongue that swept against your lower lip, unprepared for the way he would take control of the lip-lock, biting and sucking against your lips as he pulled you down and ground up against you. The molten heat of your core throbbed at the feeling of his erection pressed against you through the pants that served as one more layer keeping the two of you apart.

One hand traveled down, digging blunted nails down on your ass. He kneaded you through your bottoms, alternating between that and the dull feeling of him bearing down with his fingernails. Your rhythm faltered, and the moment you broke away to gasp, he pulled a yelp from your throat as he laid a sharp spank across the tender skin there.

You rocked in tandem with him, wriggling your hips when the rough slaps met the skin, drawing moans from your lips which only pushed him further. His hips finally stuttered, and his whole body drew taut for a moment, until he sank back into the couch, gasping for breath. It was a sight to see, even if you felt slightly unsatisfied with your own arousal.

Until he pulled you off of him, landing beside him as he slipped to the floor. With your help, he wrestled your bottoms off, tossing them to the side to join the pile of clothes that had been slowly but surely migrating off of your bodies and onto the floor. He showed the same care to the panties, despite how desperately he wanted to rip the sodden things from your body.

He showed a tender care, as he kissed and sucked up the lengths of your thighs, sighing softly against them and drawing goosebumps to the surface of your skin as he worked his way to his prize. Once more, he found himself tentative, and with a bit of direction from you, he found his rhythm. His tongue encircled your clit, using his fingers to part your folds and allow him to lathe the surface of the sensitive nerves.

One hand left to trail to your opening, coating the finger in the juices, playing with the opening of your sex. His mouth sucked and worked on its own part, while he pressed a digit into you, curling it and pressing it into your walls. He relished in the sounds that left your lips, all while he couldn’t help but moan around your nethers, sending delicious vibrations echoing to your core.

Dragging you closer and closer to the edge, he added another finger, pumping and curling the both of them together, chasing your climax with you. Akechi broke away for air, his eyes unfocused and mouth hanging open, you grabbed him by the collar to pull a kiss from his lips as he drags you over the edge of your orgasm. His lips were the only thing keeping you from screaming his name, as you wailed into the kiss, body twitching and tensing before you collapsed.

You pulled Akechi towards you, encircling your arms and burying yourself into his neck, as exhaustion threatened to take over. Both of you entertained the thought of moving to the bed, but the hazy atmosphere that surrounded the two of you kept you rooted on the couch.

Finally enjoying the warmth of his embrace.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a piece that was commissioned by an Anonymous user! If you like this please check out my other works, as well as my Twitter and Tumblr! (same name for both!)


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